The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com New Friday, November 7, 2014 - 3 MARRIAGE From Page 1 cuit: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee," Sutton wrote. Later in the decision, he wrote that same-sex marriage propo- nents have not clearly justified the case to make the definition of marriage - and the subsequent rights and recognition attached to that definition - a constitu- tional issue. Michigan's case, DeBoer v. Snyder, was initially brought by Hazel ParkresidentsAprilDeBo- er and Jayne Rowse because they were unable to jointly adopt their children. Several months after the initial case was brought, a judge offered them the option of broadening it to an overall chal- lenge of Michigan's same-sex marriage ban. In an interview Thursday evening, Jay Kaplan, project staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan's LGBT Rights Proj- ect, said the decision didn't take into account the function of the courts as a check on the power of the legislative branch. The ACLU stated earlier in the afternoon that they would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. "We relyonthecourtsbecause we know we can't rely on the will of the majority always to do the right or the fair thing, and that's one of the functions of our courts," Kaplan said. "Judge Sut- ton, in his opinion, seems to have totally lost sight of that." In a statement Thursday afternoon, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette (R), who has argued in favor of the ban and brought the appeal to the Sixth Circuit against the dis- trict court's ruling, applauded the decision and said he looked forward to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the issue. "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled, and Michigan's constitution remains in full effect," Schuette said. "As I have stated repeatedly, the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final word on this issue. The sooner they rule, the better,, for Michigan and the country." Last year, the Supreme Court chose to rule in favor of federal recognition for same-sex cou- ples in a variety of areas, strik- ing down aspects of the Defense of Marriage Act. Earlier this year, the Court declined to hear appeals to cases striking down same-sex marriage bans, but was expected to step in should a cir- cuit courtuphold the ban. In Ann Arbor, members of the LGBTQ community and allies gathered Thursday night to dis- cuss the decision at the Jim Toy Community Center, a Washt- enaw County organization that is a self-described local resource for LGBTQ individuals and their allies. Sandi Smith, president of the center, said in an interview after the event Thursday evening that the local community was still exploring its options. "Right now the people are gathering; they are a little bit in emotional shock," she said. "I think there's some consola- tion happening, and we've got some people that are trying to go through the opinions that were published ... and trying to make sense of it." Smith added that along with an appeal, the group was also looking into launching a cam- paign to place a proposal related to the legalization of same-sex marriage on the 2016 ballot. Another case in the state, stemming from the same-sex marriage ban concerning the legality of the marriages of the almost 300 couples who married in the 24-hour period between the district court's decision to strike down the ban and the issuing of an emergency stay on the decision, as requested by Schuette, is still pending in the courts. A preliminary hearing for the case was held in August. In a statement Thursday after- noon, Republican Gov. Rick Sny- der reaffirmed his position on the legality of the marriages by following the language in the state constitution. He wrote that he "took an oath to support and defend our state constitution, without exceptions." Public Policy junior Nick Rinehart, chair of Central Stu- dent Government's LGBT*Q Commission, said the lack of pro- gression of the marriage equal- ity movement in Michigan was disappointing, especially for University students considering their options in the state. "It certainly doesn't help the state of Michigan's case in the circumstance when LGBT stu- dents or allies see that their state is not willing to stand up for all of its citizens," he said. "It's defi- nitely discouraging for a lot of people. I know that it's not mak- ing me want to stay in Michigan ... it's not exactly helping the state's case here." Daily Staff Reporter Amabel Karoub contributed to this report. Tennessee vote waves the protection for abortions Amendment to state constitution oversteps Roe v. Wade ruling NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - While the rest of the South slowly whittled away at abor- tion access, Tennessee's clinics operated under less stringent restrictions. That is about to change. Voters on Tuesday approved altering the state constitution to make clear that it does not protect the right to an abor- tion - despite the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion - and legislators are already talking about man- datory counselling and waiting periods to bring Tennessee in line with the eight surround- ing states. The legislature meets again in January. The amendment, approved by 53 percent of voters, was a slow motion response to a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling in 2000 that said abortion was protected by the state constitution. The amendment was brought before the legislature four months after that decision, but it took nearly 14 years to become law because of political opposition and the state's lengthy referen- dum process. "Clearly, I think the legisla- ture wants to put commonsense legislation in place to make sure that abortion is a safe procedure in Tennessee and to restore the state to being in-line with the states around us," said House Speaker Beth Farwell, a Nash- ville Republican. Abortion rights supporters are worried that lawmakers will go too far. After the amend- ment passed, American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee Executive Director Hedy Wein- berg issued a statement warn- ing politicians that "extreme, medically-irrelevant laws will be strongly opposed by voters." The hard-fought campaign over Amendment 1 brought in more than $5.5 million, much of that raised by abortion rights advocates from Planned Par- enthood affiliates across the country who fought it. The two sides spent nearly $4.5 million in October alone, much of that going toward television adver- tisements. Opponents portrayed Ten- nessee as an "abortion destina- tion," playing up that almost 23 percent of the women get- ting abortions in Tennessee are from out of state, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. That statistic is a little mis- leading. Before the rules were relaxed by the state Supreme Court decision in 2000, 19 per- cent of abortions here were per- formed on women from other states. Border states include Mis- sissippi, where the only abor- tion clinic faces closure over a 2012 state law that is currently tied up in the courts, and Mis- souri, one of only three states that require women to wait 72 hours between when they seek an abortion and when they can obtain one. Elizabeth Nash is a policy analyst with the Guttmacher Institute, a research organiza- tion that supports legal access to abortion. She said if Tennes- see adopts laws like those in the surrounding states, abor- tion will become more difficult and expensive for women in the state. She doubted that lawmak- ers could cut off access entirely. "If the goal here is to shut abortion clinics, I imagine they will be fairly successful," she said. "To go from eight clinics to zero probably won't happen." Abortion rights advocates had better success Tuesday in Colorado and North Dakota, where voters decisively rejected measures that-opponents feared could lead to bans on abortion. The Colorado proposal would have added "unborn human beings" to the state's criminal code; the North Dakota measure would have declared in the state constitution that "the inalien- able right to life of every human being at every stage of develop- ment must be recognized and protected." Nationally, advocacy groups on opposite sides of the abortion debate drew different lessons from the election results. Abortion rights support- ers, though dismayed by the defeats of some of their Demo- cratic allies in Congress, were heartened that some Republican candidates triumphed after soft- ening previous stances on abor- tion and reproductive health. Anti-abortion groups, mean- while, were pleased by the infu- sion of more conservatives in both chambers of Congress, and said they now expect the Senate - under GOP control as of Janu- ary - to take up a House-passed bill that would ban most abor- tions after 20 weeks. FOOD From Page 1 from," she said. "We want stu- dents to know that." The process ofrecoveringfood is fairly simple but is one that has a substantial impact, said Engi- neering senior Joey Letner. "The dining staff takes the leftover food, puts in aluminum pans that we provide, puts it in freezers, and then our chapter picks up the food and brings it to the Ann Arbor Food Gatherers. From there, it's distributed to various places, such as the Delo- nis Center and other homeless centers or churches that have food pantries.". LSA senior Colleen Rathz, the event coordinator, stressed the importance of being conscious of what to do with your food. "Repurpose your leftovers, put it in the fridge, or give it to a friend," she said. "There are so many better options than throw- ing food in the garbage." KERRY- From Page 1 ferences, then so can Americans in the Midwest." After his lecture, audience members asked questions about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and other topics. Questions ranged from Iranian nuclear negotiations to the influence of the media on the talks. LSA junior Becca Levin, one of the program's organizers, said the event was sponsored by the Israeli Campus Coalition and Hillel with the purpose of bring- ing another perspective on the conflict to campus. COMPETITION From Page 1 tions. The teams are provided with Public Policy alumni as men- tors, and specifically alumni who are working in city government capacities or have other public sector experience, to incorporate real-world knowledge and ideas into the case. "Mentors will help to guide students and push them to think about the different risks involved with the proposal, how those risks could be mitigated, to think about the gaps in their thinking that would ultimately be addressed by the city council when they are presenting their proposals just so they are ready and have thought about all the externalities," Patten said. The teams are encouraged to visit East Lansing to better understand the context and situ- ation of the problem. "We wanted to educate stu- dents onaninsider's pointofview and talking about these nego- tiations," Levin said. "I think it's super important because a lot of times we get our news from social media or just one place and it's really important to take a step back and really think about the news and that way we can talk to each other about ways to move forward." Makovsky said it's also impor- tant for University students to be aware of issues of conflict in the Middle East because they impact other foreign policy objectives as well. "If there's instability in the Middle East, I think what we've learned is that it affects every- one," he said. "It leads to wars, it leads to conflict. There's no doubt jihadists exploit this conflict to gain recruits and we need peace. I think that will take a card out of their hands. I don't think it would end terror- ism but I think it could lower the flame." He also stressed the impor- tance of not giving up on finding a two-state solution. "We shouldn't see every obstacle as a pretext not to do anything," he said. "If we can't hit a home run, we should hit a double, a single, even a triple, whatever we can do, even if we can't solve it all." HIEFTJE From Page 1 "I'mgoingt continuetolivehere. and be ataxpayer," Hieftje said. Peterson, whose first term on Council ends this year, ran for mayor and therefore relinquished her eligibility to run as an incum- bent for her Council seat. During her time on Council, Petersen emphasized and used her busi- ness background to focus on eco- nomic issues in the city. During her campaign for mayor, she ran against fellow councilmembers Sabra Briere (D-Ward 1), Steve Kunselman (D-Ward 3) and Taylor, receiving 15.90 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. As her time on Council ends, Petersen said she hopes to con- tinue serving Ann Arbor through the Disabilities Commission. At Thursday's meeting, the Council voted unanimously to tioiinate Petersen as Chairof the-Disabili- ties Commission. Petersen said she was grate- ful for Hieftje's welcome to the Council, as he gave her the oppor- tunity to take a leadership role on committees. "I thank everyone here because people have been open- minded," Petersen said. "People have been willing to listen." Known as a champion for the neighborhoods of Ann Arbor, Teall has served on the Coun- cil for 12 years for the fourth ward. In addition to her time on Council, Teall also served on the Environmental Commission, the Administrative Committee, the board of directors for the annual FestiFools festival and the Labor Committee, among others. As Teall's tenure comes to a close, she said she has been nos- talgic and has looked at past e-mails to reflect on what being a councilmember meant to her and to sumup her Council experience. "It's meant a ton," she said. "You know, I've been here 12 years and I'm floored by how much we've accomplished in the 14 years since we've had our mayor. We don't talk about the same problems now. I am very lucky to have served with so many fabulous staff members." Teall also said she has no intentions at this time of running for public office again. "Working with organizations, nonprofits and such," she said, "(that) would be something I'd like to do." "We are going up to visit the city to gain a personal perspec- tive. One of my team members is from there. It should be inter- esting to see what the city is like, what lessons we can pile from having not lived in a University town," said Rasheed Malik, a Public Policy graduate student. The teams are expected to use problem-solving skills to formu- late and test hypotheses, develop work plans and issue different kinds of analysis. The teams are provided with real data that they are expected to analyze and use for solutions and proposals. A judging rubric is available for the first round of the compe- tition. Based on a numeric scale of 65 points, the first-round judg- ing focuses on the identification, interpretation and analysis of the case, and the ability of the team to explain and defend its case and strategy. Most importantly, the proposal must be legal, fiscal- ly sound and politically feasible. The rubric also includes the need for the demonstration of origi- nality and creativity. The competition attracted students from different back- grounds for several reasons. "I am an international student. I am really interested in issues of urban policy. And this would be my only chance to work within the local government framework and I was very interested to see how they operate," said Sneha Rao, a Public Policy graduate student. The kickoff event will be fol- lowed by a first round of selec- tion, designed to engage with clients for scheduled calls, to ask questions and request additional information. The second round of selection will focus on the advancing team's improvement of their submitted proposals and the development of their oral presentations. The 2014 Case Competition showcase and awards event will take place at 1210 Weill Hall on Nov.21 from 12:30 p.m.to2p.m. PLEASE FOLLOW US ON TWITTER. @MICH IGANDAILY We love you guys, and we hope you love us too. FRIDAY TheF uNoV21 . Stamp of GlobalTech Audtom centerrm Entrepreneurship FEATURING- Co-founder & General Partner, DCM dem Dr. Dixon R. Doll Dixon Doll has been one of the architects of some of the greatest waves of technology innovation the world has ever seen. His venture firm Doll Capital Management, or DCM, has led investments foryears inthe United States and China. Notably, Mr. Doll's partners have received acclaim by Forbes and other premier investment and business publications, most recently for DCM's leadership in the Chinese technology revolution. Wherever new and important economic trends and development have occurred, you can be sure that Mr. Doll's influence has been present. He will be drawing upon this unparalleled experience and perspective to share not only how global technology innovation has grown but also where, how and who will develop it in the future. Register today http://goo.gl/iVhRmg JAMES R. MELLOR LECTURE SERIES MICHIGAN ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF M ICH IGAN DO YOU ENJOY BEING UP UNTIL THE WEE HOURS OF THE NIGHT? HOW ABOUT REPORTING ON ISSUES THAT CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON CAMPUS AND BEYOND? WELL, YOU SHOULD CHECK US OUT AT THIS WELL- NAMED LINK: MICHIGANDAILY.COM/JOIN-US A